Utica Police create volunteer sign-up list in search for missing baby

by Dora Scheidell

Levon Wameling

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:54:12 GMT —

The Utica Police, who previously asked residents not to organize a search for missing 9-month-old Levon Wameling, are now welcoming citizens to volunteer to join the search when it becomes appropriate.

Police say they have received numerous phone calls from citizens offering to help search for the baby, who has been missing for nearly three weeks now.

Police are welcoming community members to hand out missing flyers, or to sign up to help with the physical search at a later date.

Many Utica residents like Cynthia Moore, are expressing their concern for the child as each days goes by without answers.

"We all want to help. We all want to put forth the effort because we want to know too. I didn't even know the little baby, but it's a baby," says Moore.

With so many questions and so few answers, many are wondering why police have not arrested the father, Jevon Wameling.

"Unfortunately, the way the system works, is that if we were to charge him, he wouldn't be behind bars for very long," says Utica Police Sgt. Steve Hauck.

To participate in either option, you can call 315-223-3510 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. to put your name on one of the lists. When police determined an appropriate time for the public to help with the search, they will contact those who have signed up.

Police ask that, until such time, residents continue to check their private property.

Levon Wameling went missing on May 29 and the babyâ??s father, 27-year-old Jevon Wameling, only reported him missing last Tuesday, two weeks later. Police say the father claims the baby disappeared from his front porch at 748 Jay Street.

A group of volunteer retired investigators from the Center for Missing and Exploited Children have teamed up with the Utica Police to search for the baby and distributed posters with Levon's picture on them.